Saint Joseph Catholic Church

news

cna

cna

commentary

The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone on April 29 with António Costa, president of the European Council.

According to the statement, the parties discussed the Middle East, “with particular attention given to the West Bank in the State of Palestine and the situation of Christians in southern Lebanon,” and the Pope’s recent apostolic journey to Africa, “emphasizing the importance of interreligious dialogue, the promotion of peace and support for the continent’s most disadvantaged communities.”

Ed. Condon, cofounder and editor of The Pillar, analyzes why Pope Leo has not responded to the SSPX superior general’s request for a papal audience.

The Society of St. Pius X announced in February that it plans to go ahead with the ordination of new bishops without papal approval on July 1, despite a Vatican warning that the move will lead to schism.

“Leo’s continued refusal to arrange a meeting is perhaps better seen as an act of pastoral concern for [Father Davide] Pagliarani’s best interests, rather than high-handedness,” writes Condon.

“Leo likely hopes—or at least prays—that between now and July, the SSPX leaders might reconsider their planned actions, and appreciate the consequences. Meeting with them would seem most likely only to cut that time short.”

Father Grzegorz Gawel, a Polish Carmelite friar imprisoned in Belarus, was among ten persons released in a ten-person prisoner exchange.

Father Gawel was detained in 2025 on espionage charges, according to Reform.news, which covers events in Belarus.

The Eastern European nation of 9.5 million (map) is 82% Christian (63% Orthodox, 17% Catholic). An autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, has led the nation since 1994.

The Minerva Dialogues, an annual meeting organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, have built bridges between the Church and Silicon Valley over the past decade, The Atlantic reported.

“Last year, the influential futurist Jaron Lanier attended a Vatican conference on AI even though he disagrees with the Church on plenty of other issues,” according to the report. Lanier “left the discussion thinking that the Catholic understanding of the human person is ‘vastly, vastly, vastly more sane and reasonable’ than that of his Silicon Valley peers.”

The officers of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia issued a statement decrying pre-election violence there.

“Any armed action that attacks the civilian population constitutes a grave offense against God and a rupture of the moral and social order,” said Archbishop Francisco Javier Múnera Correa, Archbishop Gabriel Ángel Villa Vahos, and Bishop Germán Medina Acosta. “Human life is sacred and must be protected under all circumstances.”

The prelates added, “In the name of God, we exhort those who promote and carry out violent actions to exercise restraint, to immediately cease every act that threatens life, to comply with the principles of international humanitarian law, and to treat the population with humanity.”

In a talk delivered at a Vatican conference on marriage formation, Cardinal Kevin Farrell spoke of steep declines in the number of infant baptisms and weddings worldwide over a 30-year period.

“The transmission of faith within families is weaker now than in the past,” said Cardinal Farrell, the prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. “According to the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2021, between 1991 and 2021, the number of baptisms administered worldwide to children under the age of seven declined by 31.1%, and Catholic marriages by 48%.”

“Faced with these figures, we must not lose heart; rather, we must remain fully aware of them so as to transform this situation into an opportunity for ecclesial renewal,” he added.